Identifier: americanjournroen07ameruoft (find matches)
Title: The American journal of roentgenology, radium therapy and nuclear medicine
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: American Radium Society American Roentgen Ray Society
Subjects: Radiotherapy X-rays
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. C.C. Thomas
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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of the life cycle of the cancer cell.This cycle consists of youth, or period ofdevelopment; maturity, or period of func-tion; and senility, or period of degeneration,which gradually leads to death. In parenchy-matous organs, like the liver and kidney, thefirst period is usually completed during em-bryonic life or at very early age; the secondperiod continues through the whole life ofthe organism, and the third period is attainedat the old age of the organism or near itsdeath. The life of an individual cancer cell, onthe other hand, is very short; it changes rap-idly from an embryonic into an adult andthen immediately into an aged, degeneratedcell, and this process takes place continually,irrespective of any extrinsic aid. But in amalignant tumor the majority of the cancercells are quickly rejuvenated before theyreach senility through the fact that each can-cer cell divides into two young daughtercells. When the rays arrest this proliferation,then the cancer cells, without any further
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Fig. 5. Microphotograph. Crown G.\ll. a showstumor cells, b normal stem cells. The Rationale of Radiumtherapy in Cancer 557 outside aid, mature and degenerate. It is in-teresting to note in this connection that thelife of the epithelium of the skin or testicleis nearly as short as one of the malignant tu-mors, and the rays act on these organs asspecifically as they do on malignant tumors.Thus the inhibition of the proliferatingpower of the cancer cell and its ultimate de-generation and death constitute the primaryand main action of the rays on a malignanttumor. The round cell infiltration, which sur-rounds the groups of radiated cancer cellsand which is subsequently changed intodense sclerotic connective tissue, is of sec-ondary occurrence, though for practical pur-poses it is of greater importance than the de-struction of the cancer cells themselves. Theimportance of the connective tissue consistsin the following. After the most perfect re-sults of radiation, there may remain a cer-t

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